Chapter 4 Introduction_2

"In the blessed lands of Dharma realms, cultivating is a thousand times faster than in the human world. These are the descendants of court nobility and prestigious clans, sent here to train in Qi cultivation and foundation building.

Some of them have the qualified Daoist heart and can stay to serve in the Inner Sect. In truth, most are taught some minor immortal arts and are simply registered with the Outer Sect before being sent on their way. They don't seek the grand Dao; they merely wish to enhance their status in the mortal world by associating with the name of Bamboo Mountain, seeking a life of wealth and honor."

Seeing Li Fan's interest, Master Wangshu mentioned this in passing, without giving these ants of the mortal realm a second glance, leading Li Fan toward the inner courtyards.

Meanwhile, the offspring of the dukes and ministers each bowed and showed their submission, not daring to sneak a peek at the thighs of this exceptional and peerless celestite.

Observing the backs of these princely heirs, too frightened to breathe and kneeling like they were worshipping a deity, Li Fan also reflected on the vast chasm in strength between the cultivation world and the mortal path.

It seemed the difference between mortals and immortals was immense indeed. But that made sense; having seen two Jindan stage monsters before, to a higher being, they seemed like trivial game fit for a casual meal. Yet to mortals, they probably appeared like Godzilla battling King Kong."

'Li Fan's mood dropped by 1 point'

Huh? What now?

The sudden system alert snapped Li Fan out of it, and he realized that Master Wangshu had brought him to the front of a scriptorium in the inner courtyards. A sword was suspended above the entrance of the scriptorium, its blade shone as if it were polished, reflecting the sword light onto Li Fan's face like a gleaming mirror.

Master Wangshu looked at Li Fan, released his hand, and spoke.

"The divine texts passed down by the Dao ancestors can only be cultivated by someone at least at the Jindan stage. Go inside the scripture tower and casually choose two Daoist techniques that appeal to you."

As Li Fan was about to enter, he subconsciously asked, "I wonder if the celestite has any recommendations?"

Master Wangshu laughed, "The acquired immortal arts of the later heavens boil down to the variations of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the cycles of the stars. There's truly nothing profound about them, and the foundational techniques for Qi cultivation and foundation building are not even worth mentioning. In the past, because each sect had limited resources, they provided a limited number of methods for their disciples to cultivate, requiring careful selection. Now, that is no longer the case.

Qingyue, since you've seen the Dao ancestor, presumably you can cultivate any sort of spell. However, remember the principle that biting off more than you can chew will not do you any good. Learning too many trivial skills is useless and will only lead you astray. Hence, casually picking up one technique for Qi cultivation and foundation building and one for tempering the evil and building the elixir is sufficient.

Once you've reached the great achievement of the Jindan and shed the mortal coil, I will personally transmit to you the innate Daoist methods and reveal the secrets of cultivating the divine infant."

Pick casually?

Seeing Li Fan still hesitating and looking indecisive, Master Wangshu didn't urge him on but swallowed and said with a chuckle, "Hehe, if you really want to make plans for your future cultivation path, that's not necessarily bad.

Having witnessed the empty star, you've probably also been taught the true names of the six ancestors of Taishu Mountain by the head of our sect.

But in reality, Taishu Daoist Ancestor is not limited to just six ancestors, nor have all six ancestors' methods been passed down. Often just a name is enough for one to comprehend the Dao, and among them, the six ancestors are merely the most famous.

However, in this realm, there's indeed a Daoist lineage directly handed down by a Daoist ancestor, with the most widely disseminated being the Dark Spring and Yellow Sky paths. And both have divine texts written by mighty beings who've merged with the Dao.

If you, Qingyue, intend to vie for the Taishu divine texts in the future, you may now take note of the names of the techniques that contain the words 'Xuanming' or 'Zixia.' It is said that with these as a foundation, separately cultivating the Daos of Dark Spring and Yellow Sky can yield twice the results with half the effort."

"Xuanming, Zixia. Thanks for the guidance, celestite. Qingyue has taken note."

Li Fan nodded, and upon seeing the drooling expression of Master Wangshu, he secretly vowed to perfectly avoid these two mistaken choices.

Li Fan then sidestepped the suspended precious sword at the door and pushed the door open to enter the scripture tower.

What greeted his eyes was the god niche in the front hall, but what the god niche enshrined was not some bizarre demon overlord. Instead, it contained two large characters painted with black ink on white paper.

One read 'Heaven'

The other read 'Ghost'

What in the heavenly... what is this ghostly business?

Li Fan hesitated as he eyed the straw mat on the floor; it would have been fine if it were for offering incense to Heaven and Earth, but what in the world was this about worshipping 'Heaven Ghost'…

'Li Fan's mood significantly improved by 1 point.'

What? My mood actually improved? Well, if the system says so, then I might as well worship. Whatever this thing is, worshipping can only be auspicious.

Hence, Li Fan mimicked the gestures of other cultivators, repeatedly murmuring, "No offense meant, no offense meant," and bowed in worship.

Master Wangshu, standing behind him, saw that he had bypassed the ink sword and worshipped the 'Heaven Ghost.' She put away her fearsome expression, softened her demeanor, and nodded slightly. The gentle light in her eyes transformed her look from seeing a 'non-creature' to regarding a 'person.'

Of course, Li Fan didn't notice these details. Moving to the back hall, he saw another peculiar scene.

Forget peculiar, that wasn't deserving enough to describe it. It was simply strange.

What Li Fan saw were rows of bookshelves with stacks of black bamboo slips on them; the slips appeared to have been made from the black bamboo of Bamboo Mountain. Great, it looked like ancient Daoist methods indeed – hopefully, they hadn't done away with paper as well…

But the strange part wasn't the bamboo slips; it was the people selecting the spells.

Li Fan could see the Outer Sect disciples, in their fur coats and short cloaks, cautiously and gingerly reaching for the bamboo slips on the shelves. But as they reached out, some suddenly burst into flames, others froze into ice, some turned to wood, and others petrified into clay figurines. The most tragic ones had their reaching arms cut and mashed by invisible blades, leaving only bones.